Microsoft Launching Internet Explorer 9 Beta September 15

Microsoft will celebrate the Beauty Of The Web event in San Francisco for the launch of Internet Explorer 9 beta. Do we really care about this after the company’s failure to deliver a decent browser? Who uses IE nowadays when you have better options out there like Firefox, Safari and Chrome?

Apple Releases iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone and 3.2.2 for iPad

Apple releases iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone and 3.2.2 for iPad, fixes PDF vulnerability

Bad news, jailbreakers: as promised, Apple's just released iOS 4.0.2 for the iPhone and 3.2.2 for the iPad, both of which close the PDF exploit used by JailbreakMe. That appears to be the only change -- it's definitely good news for anyone concerned about iOS security, although we're guessing the Dev Team is hard at work finding a new way to crack iOS open once again. We'll let you know if we find anything else -- won't you do the same?

Oracle Sues Google over Android

Oracle announced today that it has filed suit against Google for alleged patent and copyright infringement.

The business software giant headed by Larry Ellison (pictured) said that the suit concerns intellectual property related to the Java programming language, which Oracle purchased through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems. In a press release, Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said, “In developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property.”

I’ve embedded a copy of Oracle’s complaint below, which includes more details about the company’s allegations. From the complaint: “Google’s Android competes with Oracle America’s Java as an operating system software platform for cellular telephones and other mobile devices. … Google has been aware of Sun’s patent portfolio, including the patents at issue, since the middle of this decade, since Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers.”

A Google spokesman told me that the company hasn’t been served with the complaint yet, so it can’t comment. There’s a good chance that Oracle raised the issue with Google before filing suit, so it may be worth quoting the boilerplate language in Google’s latest earnings report about how Google is involved in legal claims “from time to time,” but that the company believes “the resolution of our current pending matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business.”

Google's South Korea Office Reportedly Raided

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc.'s South Korean offices were raided by police Tuesday, the latest headache for the company related to its gathering of personal data from wireless networks as part of its Street View mapping service, according to reports. The National Police Agency is investigating whether Google illegally collected private information while preparing for the South Korean launch of Street View, according to reports.

In the U.S., Google is faced with a probe by dozens of state attorneys general related to the data gathering, which the company has said was inadvertent. Google said Tuesday it will add the 20 largest German cities to Street View, which shows photography details of map locations, though residents can request having their houses or apartments made unrecognizable before their location is published.

Google Ends Google Wave

Google Introduced Google Wave last year and it created a lot of waves in the tech world in the beginning but it faded into thin year soon. As Google didn’t get the expected response for Google Wave, It is planning to end the project by the end of this year.

Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations said this in Google’s Official Blog. However the core parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, So that Developers can continue to develop the project.

Wave has taught us a lot, and we are proud of the team for the ways in which they have pushed the boundaries of computer science. We are excited about what they will develop next as we continue to create innovations with the potential to advance technology and the wider web.

– Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations

Google will use the innovations of Wave in their other projects too. Google Wave started grandly but I didn’t expect this ending for Wave this much soon. Wave would of created a revolution in our way of communication, but Google failed to make it reach the masses by lack of advertisement and Wave’s difficult user interface.

MiTube – Free app to download YouTube Videos on iPhone

Those of you that, for some reason, want to download YouTube clips straight on your iPhone or other iOS device can do so now officially with MiTube. I say officially as the application was previously available only in the Cydia store (under the name of MxTube) but has been approved by Apple and it is now found in the App Store.


MiTube will work with various iPhone models, the iPod touch and the iPad, so whatever iOS device you have you’ll be able to get MiTube immediately. The application comes free of charge and it’s compatible with iOS 4.0 devices too but does require iPhone OS 3.0 or later to work properly.

I haven’t tested MiTube myself since I rarely find myself in a situation where I’d need to have a saved YouTube video on hand, but the whole process should be pretty straightforward. Point the app to your favorite YouTube clips, the kind of content you’d always want to carry with you and access even if there’s no Wi-Fi or 3G coverage and MiTube will help you save them on your iOS device.


Naturally the application also lets you stream videos, so you don’t have to necessarily save every single one of your favorite YouTube movies. And since we’re talking about YouTube videos, make sure you check out our short, but growing collection of YouTube tech-related clips, and test MiTube on them.

As for the application itself, the word on the street is that it might get pulled from the App Store at any moment (as I am writing these lines the app is still available in iTunes) so grab it while you can. Otherwise you’ll have to jailbreak your iOS device and grab the other version from Cydia.

Did you get MiTube yet? How was your experience with it?

Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac Gets Release Date and Priced

When it arrives on retail shelves later this year, the next version of Microsoft Office for the Mac will cost between 20 percent to 50 percent less than Office 2008, according to pricing announced by Microsoft Monday.

Microsoft Office 2011 will come in two editions—a Mac Home and Student version and a Mac Home and Business offering—when it ships at the end of October.

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 includes the Word word-processing, PowerPoint presentation, Excel spreadsheet, and Messenger IM applications. It will cost $119 for a single license and $149 for a family pack that allows for installs on three Macs.

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Messenger, along with Outlook for the Mac. Outlook replaces Entourage as Office’s mail client and is one of the centerpiece changes of the 2011 edition of the productivity suite. The Home and Business edition will cost $199 for a single license and $279 for a multi-pack that allows two installs on two computers.

The prices for the 2011 editions of Office compare to $149 for the Home and Student Edition of Office 2008 and $399 for Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition. Microsoft says the new prices for the Mac version of Office create more consistent pricing across platforms.

In addition to the two versions of Office for the Mac, Microsoft will offer an academic edition for $99. Featuring Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Messenger, Microsoft Office for Mac Academic 2011 will be available only to higher-education students, staff, and faculty, Microsoft says.

While announcing the pricing for the 2011 version of Office, Microsoft also set an October release date for its productivity suite. Previously, the software giant had only said that the new version would be out before the 2010 holiday season.

Users who buy Office 2008 starting on Monday will be able to upgrade to the 2011 version for free. The offer runs through November 30, 2010, and users can register for the free upgrade at Microsoft’s Website. Microsoft didn’t provide any other upgrade pricing details for existing Office users.

When it ships, Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac will be available in more than 100 countries. Microsoft will add two new languages—Polish and Russian—to the 11 languages it already supports. Office 2011 will also be available in English as well as Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish.

Microsoft said the new version of Office will ship in several regions in October, with continued availability throughout the rest of 2010. The company will provide a list of country-specific availability in late October.

First announced in February, Office 2011 promises better compatibility across platforms, improved collaboration tools, and a modified interface. Besides the addition of Outlook, the new suite will include a more elaborate template gallery and a Ribbon feature that replaces the Elements Gallery and provides quick access to commonly used tools.

5 Awesome Movie Cell Phones We Wish Were Real

We’ve all seen movies where the protagonist whips out a cell phone and proceeds to do something practically impossible: call mom from a secret underground bunker, snap hi-res photos of terrorist activity, or control all electronics in the immediate vicinity. Didn’t you think to yourself: where can I get one of those?

We’ve put together our wish list of five cell phones from the movies that we wish were real, along with their real-life counterparts. Enjoy!

1. James Bond’s phone in Tomorrow Never Dies



James Bond always has the coolest gadgets, no question. We’d love to get our hands on the cell phone he uses in Tomorrow Never Dies. The innocuous looking device packs a mean punch. It comes with: a stun gun, a fingerprint scanner/analyzer/transmitter handy for opening up fancy locks, a lock pick for old-fashioned locks disguised as the phone’s antennae, and last but not least – drumroll please – a “flip open” remote control for operating his BMW 750iL. The remote comes with a directional steering pad, LCD monitors of the car’s front and rear views (see picture), and controls to car’s defensive mechanisms, including the fire rocket launcher. Now that is one cool function. Does the car come with it?

Real-life counterpart



Ericsson designed Bond’s phone specifically for the movie, and much of the design resurfaced in a phone released a few years later in 2000. The Ericsson R380 is already obsolete by our standards, but at the time it was arguably the world’s first smartphone and the first to use the Symbian OS. Like Bond’s phone, it comes with a touchscreen partially covered by a flip, and it boasts an antennae, but that’s where all similarities end. It looks remarkably clunky by today’s standards, especially when compared to the Droid or iPhone.

2. Tony Stark’s Phone in Iron Man 2



Tony Stark had a pretty lame phone in the first movie – a simple LG VX9400, hardly a billionaire’s phone, but he packed a serious upgrade for the sequel. His state-of-the-art, slim, transparent cell phone allowed him to control his TV, lock up his house, project videos, and, we assume, take over nearby monitors as he demonstrated during his Senate hearing. Fingers crossed that was just saw a version of the future, folks, because talk about multi-functional. For a look at some of the graphics, watch this clip.

Real-life counterpart

Sorry, everyone. In real life Tony’s phone was a transparent piece of glass with the Stark logo and the LG logo etched on it. Definitely missing some key functions. As corporate sponsor of the movie, however, LG jumped on some of the Iron Man buzz and launched the LG Ally phone, its first Android-powered smartphone. The Ally is promoted with lots of Iron Man reference, but according to an early review from cnet, the phone doesn’t differ substantially from LG’s other offerings, such as the EnV. Still, Ally is supposed to come with some Iron Man 2 augmented-reality applications. If you really want to feel like Tony Stark, LG has a fun introduction to the concept here.

3. The Star Trek Communicator



Remember the days before cell phones? People dreamed of something like the Star Trek communicator, which allowed for instantaneous communication over long distances. Hmmm. Word on the street is that Martin Cooper, inventor of the world’s first personal cell phone, was inspired by Captain Kirk’s communicator.

Yes, the first incarnation of the communicator is boxy and big by our standards, but remember that the communicator is so much more than a normal cell phone. Communicators can transmit through subspace, which allowed Captain Kirk and his crew to chat with their buddies on a ship in orbit. Sample conversation: “Beam me up, Scotty!”

Real-life counterpart

All cell phones are arguably based on the Star Trek communicator. Unfortunately, there is no phone actually designed to look like the communicator – yet. Currently available on the market are a number of iPhone covers designed to look like communicators, as well as a full-size replica from ThinkGeek that comes with lights, sound effects, and clips from the original show. If you’re really jonesing to hold a communicator look-alike in your hands, the ThinkGeek product is definitely the way to go, but remember that you won’t be able to actually communicate with anybody. You can pretend it’s really Spock on the other end, though.

4. Get Smart Shoe Phone



There’s nothing like a secret phone to make you feel like a secret agent, and in the categories of secret phones, there’s nothing like the shoe phone from Get Smart. Made famous by the spy parody TV series in the late 60s, the shoe phone was, like the communicator, a precursor to modern day cell phones. Thankfully we don’t have to take off our shoes to dial a friend, but we admit there’s something sweet and nostalgic about packing a secret communication device in your shoe. Not to mention that if you dial “117″ the whole shoe turns into a gun.

Real-life counterpart

Believe it or not, a simple Google Shopping search presents a whole array of options for purchasing a shoe phone. Not satisfied with those? Get step-by-step instructions for creating your own shoe phone here. Phone and shoes required.

5. Matrix Reloaded Phone



In the widely anticipated sequel to The Matrix, Neo and friends continued their fight against the evil computer program enslaving humanity. This time, however, they switched to using Samsung. And while our phones exist only in the Matrix, Neo and Morpheus were able to use their phones to communicate with people back in the real world. Unfortunately, there’s not an app for that.

Real-life counterpart

The cell phone used in the movie was developed specifically for that purpose, and Samsung tied the release of the lookalike SPH-N270 phone (otherwise known as the “Matrix phone”) to the release of the movie in 2003. The background options on the phone allowed for famous “digital rain” – the green code on black background – and comes with screensaver themes and various ringtones. The phone definitely took its movie roots very seriously and successfully sold out.